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Recently I was reorganizing my old data files when I came across a copy of an old magazine called Computer Wire. This issue was from 1985. Wow. That was the year that marked the tenth anniversary of the original desktop-computing revolution, which most people will agree began in 1975.Acer Aspire One D260 バッテリー

What fascinates me is that, despite the clear advances this revolution was making, many people who should have known better were still in absolute denial about them.

People like Derek Bok, who was then the president of Harvard University, as reported by Charles Bowen in this April 1985 issue:
Harvard University president Derek Bok has a “show-me” attitude about the claims of personal computer enthusiasts. Bok said yesterday that, despite “all the exaggerated claims and media hype, there is still little proof that the new devices yield lasting improvements in learning.”Asus ML32-1005 PL31-1005

…While Bok has said there may come a time when incoming Harvard freshmen will be required to have PCs, he noted that unlike many universities, Harvard is not committed to digitizing its library system or establishing a computer network between students and professors.
Well, at least he foresaw the need for students to have PCs. Lucky for us his prognostication concerning computer networks around campus was off-base.dell vostro 2510 バッテリー

Of course we all make mistakes in our predictions now and again, but I’m constantly stunned at how incredibly influential people get things so wrong.
Ted Koppel: Not an Early Adopter

Another amusing clip I got from this publication was a report of the keynote panel at a long-since defunct industry event called Softcon, which was designed to become the primary trade show for software companies.Fujitsu LifeBook S7111 バッテリー
The panel consisted of a pretty powerful group: John Sculley, the CEO of Apple; Mitchell Kapor of Lotus Development; newsletter editor Esther Dyson; and Fred Gibbons of Software Publishing. Ted Koppel of ABC News was the moderator.
At the event Koppel made it clear he was computer-illiterate and used a manual typewriter, and he “challenged the panelists to convince him computers really have something to offer him. He described the potential buyers the industry wants to woo as ‘once bitten’—noting that many PCs bought for home use spend much of their time gathering dust—and asked the panelists what near-future advances made them think the industry should be believed when it tells people, ‘This time, it will be useful.’”HP EliteBook 6930p バッテリー

Curiously the panel had nothing good to say about computers or the trends, either. All said that computers were essentially useless in the home and it would be years before anything came of the buggers. Stunning.
And You Used A Typewriter in 1985 Why?
I had begun my writing career years earlier on computers, with the help of MCI mail and daisy-wheel printers, and was dumfounded by this sort of reaction to the devices. Telecom programs and BBS systems were already established in 1979, as were faster modems. So there was plenty you could do with a computer at home. IBM ThinkPad R51 バッテリー

The idea of using a typewriter in 1985, a whole year after the first GUI Macintosh was released and 10 years into the desktop revolution, in hindsight or not, is astonishing.Sony VGP-BPL5A
During this period I was an evangelist, helping people transition to computers from typewriters. Since the keyboard on a computer is identical to the typewriter, I never understood why people couldn’t just change. Some argued that writing on a computer made you lazy or ruined the flow. You had to pound on a clunky typewriter for some stylistic reason. Someone actually told me that the computer, or “word processor” as it was then called, made it too easy to edit. Thus you became a lazy writer. I’m still not sure what that means. Let me think. Instead of typing out a document, then going over it by hand and trying to figure out how to move things around and correct errors and retype it, I can now do all that on the fly and finish in half the time. Thus I am lazy.Toshiba PABAS080

Did Koppel or anyone on that panel actually think that those old manual typewriters were going to continue to be manufactured?
To be fair, I should mention that in 1985 the country experienced a mild depression. Perhaps this resulted in a negative prognosis for the future of the computer business. Whatever the case, the lack of insight was pretty pathetic by any standards. Ted, how’s the typewriter working for you?

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